Gift idea for our maid?

Why not a gift certificate to a store, such as a nice perfume shop, or even to a grocery store (ideal) -- every one needs groceries, She may not have a lot of extra spending money,

The lady who cleans the bathrooms, the sinks, and sometimes your rooms is a paid employee of the college; no matter how "demeaning" you apparently think her job is. She is not a "maid"; her job description is "Housekeeper". You do not need to get her any kind of "thank you" gift. Her "thank you" is the paycheck that she receives every month from her employer for doing the job she was hired to do.

Don't insult her job with some kind of meaningless "thank you" gift that she doesn't need and probably wouldn't appreciate. The Housekeeper is a paid employee of the college; so she probably also receives job benefits that you are still able to only dream about: a paid health care plan; paid vacation time; paid sick leave time; membership in the college Employee Credit Union; a retirement plan - to name a few.

If you want to get her something as a "thank you" gift, get her a silk scarf that she might could use to shield her hair from the sea breezes in her next cruise to the Caribbean, that she takes on her paid vacation time.

Silk scarf with a floral pattern.

I would have a floral arrangement sent to her at the dorm, there's nothing like having flowers delivered to make a lady feel special. That and a gift card. She has such a thankless job, and you are a sweetheart for thinking of her and wanting to do something for her.

just get her some flowers, i think she'd like that

A nice thankyou card with a gift card inside, would be a nice gesture, perhaps signed by all that have contributed would be thoughtful.

A Gift card for a department store would ensure she could get what she likes.

I doubt they are "maids" but housekeepers. Get them a gift card a generic AMEX or Visa one that they can use anywhere.

Money goes over very well in situations like this. If you want to get some kind of small token gift like flowers or a box of chocolates, that's very nice but a card saying how much you appreciate what she does, along with $20 or more, would be quite appropriate and if she is an older lady who still needs to work, might be much more useful to her than anything else. Stay away from the gift card idea. Chances are good that it would be for a place or service she won't use.

Cash

The most flexible gift is money. I imagine she doesn't make much working a s maid. You could get her a really nice thank you card, and take donations from everyone in the dorm. A couple of hundred dollars would probably make her faint!